Problems of the mind... effecting work

[Joe Matt]

Originally posted by KenWittlief
there have been many people who dont have ADD, or dont know someone who has it, who condemm the use of ritalin or other drugs for its treatment

thinking somehow these people are simply not disciplined enough, and all the doctors are doing in doping them up so they will sit still in class, and not be a bother to other students.

nothing could be further from the truth. People with ADD or ADHD have a difficult time working on single tasks that are not interesting to them, esp if its repetative.

They feel like they need to get up frequently, streach their legs, get some 'air', take a break - almost like they are locked in a box and NEED to get out.

Keep in mind that ritalin and other forms of medication used to treat ADD are a stimulant - NOT a sedative. In the '60s ritalin use to be called 'speed' on the street (yes, its the same drug).

So what would you expect would happen if you give a STIMULANT to a person who is already hyperactive, or who cant sit still for more than 10 minutes? The person would be bouncing off the walls, right?

If you gave ritalin to a person who does NOT have ADD, that would be true - they would be wired and jittery, like they had too much caffene

but it has the opposite effect on a person with ADD - it allows them to focus on one task, and to work at it for a long period of time, without feeling that need to escape.

And yes, it only lasts for 4 hours - it doesnt permanently alter your brain chemistry, just like eating food doenst permanently alter your blood sugar levels.

Which is a good thing - you would not want to permanantly alter a person with ADD or ADHD, because we have gifts and abilities that most people do not posess. Once we get through those situations that are difficult for us (like the typical classroom environment) we often excel in our careers and personal endevours.

We dont need to be taught to think outside the box. We LIVE outside the box :c)

I live in a house.

Overall, I couldnt' agree more. We are the square pegs and the world is the round hole, we arn't going to become smaller to fit in, we are going to find another hole to fit us.

[Tytus Gerrish]

Im ADHD and Dislexic

woulrd you ever notice?

im no writer and i cant read my oun handwriting and i always bouncing off the walls, i avoid writing anything aND WHEN I DO ITS Short and treibely misspeled i Do very inpulsive things without thinking and either have a Wild time or get in trouble etc...

[KenWittlief]

Tytus,

I notice in your sidebar info that you were the driver/operator last year?

interesting - did you obtain that position by having to prove your driving skills against other students - was there a test to see who was the best driver?

being a FIRST team driver/operator is another good example of the type of things that people with ADD excel at.

[David Kelly]

I was diagonised with having anxiety a few months ago. For a while I was having a really tough time. I would get panic/ anxiety attacks when I knew that everything is alright. It was/ is really scary. I am improving slowly, but I still have trouble some times. I often worry a lot about some stuff, like friends and such, and dont worry about at all, such as homework. I also would get all nervous and sweatty for no apparent reason and think that I am trapped inside a box and couldnt get out. I think that my homework and grades had suffered in the past due to my condition. I've been experiencing something wrong with myself for the past 3 or 4 years, but one event seemed to hit if off hard. I am now getting some of the best grades in a while since I started on medication.

Now as soon as I can get this under control and some other medical issues I have, I will hopefullly feel much much better.




The lesson I learned, if you think you have a problem, see you Dr. If you are scared that something could be suffering, see you Dr. You may not always realize that something can be wrong with yourself. You will be glad you did it later on.

[Katie_269]

Originally posted by Jnadke

While you could make the argument that ADD is a genetic disorder, you could equally make the argument that it's a developed disorder.

The mind is a collection of pathways optimized for what you learn, or repetitive tasks. Much like learning how to snowboard, your mind doesn't know what to do at first. Eventually it develops the "proper" neural pathways through constant practice and will remember how to snowboard, as an impulse. It could easily be that this inability to focus and see one thing through is a learned behavior.

I agree with this. I remember from my Human Biology class in High School. Every time you do something your brain makes connections. There are constant connections being made on even the littlest thing that you do. If a person continually does not even try to focus, that bad habit is learned, and hard to get out of. I am not saying every case of ADD is like this, but some of them could easily be this.

~Katelyn

[KenWittlief]

yes, you can have children who never learned discipline, who were never held accountable for their actions, who were never made to sit and work on one task at time

and they will have trouble in school.

Thing is, if those kids dont have ADD, it will be easy for them to learn to discipline themselves - normal things we do in school would quickly put them on the right track.

But if you have a student with ADD, trying to train them to focus on one thing, like you are teaching a dog to sit with a biscuit on his nose

would be like trying to train a blind person to see colors.

Children are very rarely diagnosed with ADD before 2nd or 3rd grade - often later than that

so they have already been in the same classroom situations as the rest of the kids - these children were not found living in the woods with a pack of wolves :c)

bad habits CAN be corrected - good study habits can be learned

but if you have ADD, you cant learn to not have it.

in the very recent past, students with ADD were considered lazy, unrulely, troublemakers and many did not make it through highschool

and they didnt fair well in life after school either.

Recognizing that ADD is a real thing, that we think and respond differently that most people, has made a HUGE impact on the quality of life for people with ADD.